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Bruins Escape Seattle With 59-57 Victory

SEATTLE - The UCLA women's basketball team earned a 59-57 win over Washington in a game played tonight at the Bank of America Arena on the University of Washington campus in Seattle, WA. The win evened the Bruins overall record at 8-8 on the year and upped their Pac-10 record to 3-2. UW is now 6-10 and 1-3 in the conference.

UCLA jumped out to an early lead in the contest and was not headed in the first half of action. Sophomore guard Erica Tukiainen scored the first five points of the game and the Bruins led 9-2 after a basket by sophomore center Moniquee Alexander at the 16:14 mark. Washington used an 8-2 run to tie the score at 22 on a Katelan Redmon basket at the 6:00 mark. Two Washington free throws tied the game again at 24 with 3:35 to play in the half. Senior forward Lindsey Pluimer pushed the Bruins back on top with a basket with 3:14 on the clock. Washington missed its last nine shots of the half and the Bruins went to the intermission with a 29-24 advantage.

Pluimer recorded a first half blocked shot to give her 75 for her career and help make her one of just five Bruin women's players to have totaled at least 1,300 points, 650 rebounds and 75 blocked shots for a career (Ann Meyers, Necie Thompson, Natalie Williams and Maylana Martin).

UCLA survived a second half cold spell in which it went scoreless for over five and a half minutes. Freshman Christina Nzekwe broke the drought with a free throw at the 7:04 mark. It was the first UCLA point since a Tukiainen basket at the 12:44 mark had given the Bruins a 47-37 edge. UW managed to cut the lead to 47-43 before Nzekwe's free throw.

A Washington three-point shot with 48 seconds to play cut the Bruin lead to 57-55. Pluimer then connected on a short jump shot from the right baseline for a 59-55 advantage with 20 seconds left in the game. Washington made both ends of a one-and-one free throw opportunity with nine seconds to play to make it 59-57. Pluimer was fouled on the inbounds play and missed the front end of the bonus situation with 7.9 seconds on the clock. The rebound went out of bounds to Washington. A Husky three-point shot missed just before the buzzer sounded.

Pluimer led a balanced UCLA attack with 16 points, she was the lone Bruin in double digits. UCLA will now travel to Pullman, WA for a Saturday afternoon matchup against the Washington State Cougars.